A site dedicated to G.K. Chesterton, his friends, and the writers he influenced: Belloc, Baring, Lewis, Tolkien, Dawson, Barfield, Knox, Muggeridge, and others.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

"We do not need to get good laws to restrain bad people. We need to get good people to restrain us from bad laws." GKC

"Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable", GKC. When they agree on what activity is excusable it becomes law. When an activity becomes legal it then becomes normal and then it becomes moral.It does not matter if that activity is intrinsically evil or not the pattern is the same, (they sometimes switch out the words its moral for its a right). Judith Reisman and Mary Mcalister have done a great job in connecting the dots.

When a law is evil the mental gymnastics needed to keep convincing yourself its moral is something you need to do every day and leads to a society that borders on insanity.

The only entity that keeps us tipping completely over the edge is the Catholic Church. Or as GKC said "We do not really need a religion that is right where we are right. What we need is a religion that is right where we are wrong."

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

We are in the middle of Fair week here - the greatest county fair on the planet. It is a big deal around these parts and I enjoy it in a large way. Just to give you an idea of how big this is our county has a population of 53,000 humans by the end of the week 185,000 humans will pass through the gates of the fair. Many like me will register more than once on that count but hey....

The people are beautiful.

For those who love fried food this is where heaven meets earth. Truly I say onto ya-all that even cow pies deep fried would taste good at the fair.

My daughter won a Blue Ribbon at the dog show. That with an apple dumpling buried under a half pound of ice cream makes this a day for dancing.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

San Diego, August 22, 2011: St. Gianna Physician’s Guild today launched an online petition (www.StopTheBirthControlMandate.com) requesting the Obama Administration and Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, toimmediately withdraw all references to contraception and contraception counseling from the “Guidelines for Women’s Preventive Services” under The Affordable

Care Act, and to provide a conscience clause to protect the religious freedom and beliefs of Catholics.

Not sure if this type of petition works. However, it would never work if we do not put forth our voice. The current occupant is moraly tone deaf. I have fought a lot of fights I did not 'win' and knew I would not when the fight began ("not sure how many of them it would take to kick my ass but I knew how many they were going to use.") but it would be worse for not fighting.

We know the moral costs of abortion but "they" think morality is so yesterday. So here are just some economic stats and its the 'economy stupid'.

"In 1973 there were 744,000 abortions of babies who would be 38 years old, if they were alive today. If about half had married and had an average of 2.1 children, another 390,000 babies would have been born.

On the assumption that people marry at age 24, About 10 million of those invisible infants would have married and would have had 10.8 million children of their own. Perhaps another 2 million babies would have been born out-of-wedlock.

Consequently, America is missing about 65.5 million people. That is more people than live in New York, Los Angeles, and an additional 127 of America’s largest cities.

The economic consequences of these missing people are staggering. Marco Ciavolino, a computer consultant, created the Invisible Infants website and the spreadsheet which estimates that these people would have earned $5.7 trillion, (assuming an average per capita income of $26,000 according to Census). They would have paid $1.4 trillion in taxes!

We live in a time of high unemployment. If all those children had been born, wouldn’t the economy be worse?

No. If those Invisible Infants had been born, they would have been a boon to the economy. This column noted recently that the 76 million Baby Boomers only had 49 million children. No wonder they have trouble selling their houses and downsizing! If 38 million couples had the usual 2.1 children they would have had 80 million children. There would be no housing slump."

It is a lie that more people equals more poverty, and strife. As you look at the world the places that have the most poverty, war and political instability are the countries with the lowest numbers in population.

Monday, August 22, 2011

"In the United States, our battles over abortion, family life, same-sex marriage, and other sensitive issues have led to ferocious public smears and legal threats not only against Catholics, but also against Mormons, evangelicals, and other religious believers…the mass media tend to cover these disputed issues with a combination of ignorance, laziness, and bias against traditional Christian belief…We make a very serious mistake if we rely on media like the New York Times, Newsweek, CNN, or MSNBC for reliable news about religion. These news media simply don’t provide trustworthy information about religious faith …These are secular operations focused on making a profit…They have very little sympathy for the Catholic faith, and quite a lot of aggressive skepticism toward any religious community that claims to preach and teach God’s truth."

Pope Ben has named a new doctor of the church, 16th century Spanish priest St. John of Avila. The title of ‘Doctor of the Church’ is bestowed upon a saint whose writings are deemed to be of universal importance to the Church. The Pope must also declare the individual to be of “eminent learning” and “great sanctity.” Other Doctors of the Church include St. Augustine, St. John Chryosostom, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Catherine of Siena and, our bestest little girl, Therese of Lisieux.

They also released a short list of those to be considered as doctors which include John Bosco and Louis-Marie de Montfort - two of my favorite Saints.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

One of the really great things about being a Christian is we know how the war ends. Sure, sure, we are going to lose a few battles and there will be the wounded and sometimes we feel that we lose every battle. So when we do win one we should share it like the widow who lost her coin ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’

“America,” Chesterton says, “ is the only nation in the world founded on a creed. The creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence, perhaps the only piece of practical politics that is theoretical politics and also great literature.”

Monday, August 15, 2011

Few of us remain untouched by the scourge of breast cancer. Whether among our families, friends or neighbors, there are a great many women in our country who confront this disease every day with tremendous faith and courage.

Researchers, physicians and medical personnel, using their God-given intelligence and skill, work very hard not only to provide healing of those who are afflicted, but also to find a cure. We are all familiar with the mobilization of effort in our country on behalf of this worthy goal.

One of the most widely known initiatives is that of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Many people participate in efforts to raise funds for this cause, including some of our Catholic institutions and schools.

While we want to do everything possible to support the search for a cure, sadly the landscape of medical research today is sometimes marred by the erroneous belief that research is not bound by moral norms rooted in faith and reason, as reflected in the teaching of the Church. That teaching holds, for example, that it is not morally acceptable to destroy one human life, even in its embryonic stage, in order to save another human life.

For some time, moral questions have been raised from various quarters about the research funded by the Komen Foundation. The Bishops of Ohio have discussed this and have looked into the matter. As best we can determine, at present the Komen Foundation does not fund cancer research that employs embryonic stem cells. However, their policy does not exclude that possibility. They are open to embryonic stem cell research, and may very well fund such research in the future. They are also contributors to Planned Parenthood, which, though it may claim to provide needed medical services to poor women, is also the largest provider of abortions in our country.

In order to avoid even the possibility of cooperation in morally unacceptable activities, the other Bishops and I believe that it would be wise to find alternatives to Komen for Catholic fundraising efforts.

For that reason, I am directing that in the fight against breast cancer, fundraising carried out under Catholic auspices, including our schools, should be channeled to our locally known Mercy Cancer Centersinstead of Komen.

ThroughMercy, we can help local women who are without financial means to receive specialized care which includes treatment, detection and support in their fight against breast cancer. We can be assured that atMercy, these women will receive a high level of compassionate care that respects their human dignity.

More information will be coming to you fromMercyregarding this opportunity. I thank you for your cooperation and support. Together let us pray for all cancer sufferers, especially those in the greatest physical, spiritual and emotional need.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

A group of gay-rights activists has set up an online petition to encourage Sesame Street producers to make a social statement on the show. To wit, they want longtime roommates (and long-rumored gay couple) Bert and Ernie to get married. Predictably, supporters and opponents are lining up on either side of the issue, even though Sesame Workshop has stated that neither character is gay.

While the Bert and Ernie petition is interesting, it doesn't seem like a priority in terms of Sesame Street social issues. First things first - let's get Oscar off the streets and Cookie Monster into rehab.

In the new Health and Human Services (HHS) guidelines for health insurance plans, HHS took the extraordinary step of putting the guidelines into effect immediately so that college students could have free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortifacients by the 2012-2013 school year.

“The Obama Administration apparently believes that ensuring contraceptives for students’ premarital exploits is reason enough to forego public comment before making these rules effective,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “That is social engineering at its worst.”

According to the proposed rule submitted to the Office of the Federal Register:

“The July 19, 2010 interim final rules indicated that HRSA expected to issue guidelines by August 1, 2011. After considering public comments raising the issue addressed in these amendments, however, the Departments determined that HRSA should be granted the discretion to address the commenter concerns at issue prior to issuing guidelines under section 2713(a)(4). Many college student policy years begin in August and an estimated 1.5 million young adults are estimated to be covered by such policies.5 Providing an opportunity for public comment as described above would mean that the guidelines could not be issued until after August of 2011. This delay would mean that many students could not benefit from the new prevention coverage without cost-sharing following from the issuance of the guidelines until the 2013-14 school year, as opposed to the 2012-13 school year. Similarly, 2008 data from the Department of Labor indicate that over 4 million Americans have ERISA group health plan coverage that starts in August or September; they too would experience over a year’s delay in the receipt of the new benefit if the public comment period delayed the issuance of the guidance for over a month. The Departments have determined that such a delay in implementation of the statutory requirement that women receive vital preventive services without cost-sharing would be contrary to the public interest because it could result in adverse health consequences that may not otherwise have occurred.”(emphasis added)

Yes pregnancy has to be prevented because it could result in adverse health consequences - you know, like a baby.

In abreakthrough agreement, public television executives in Chicago have committed to prime-time broadcasts and nationwide distribution of Fr. Robert Barron's new CATHOLICISM documentary series this fall.

A show broadcast on PBS that shows Catholics in a positive light, as something good?!? Whod a thunk it? This is major. Really when was the last time you saw Christianity let alone Catholicism shown, on public TV as anything but harmful or at best quaint.

As Father Barron said, "The Catholic story is being told, but being told by the wrong people in the wrong way. We need to tell our own story." And brothers and sisters he tells it well.

Thursday, August 04, 2011

The current occupant has lost 'the appreciation of primary things and therefore all sense of proportion about the world'.

"If [my daughters] make a mistake I don't want them punished with a baby".

Senator Barack Obama

"Now a child is the very sign and sacrament of personal freedom. He is a fresh free will added to the wills of the world; he is something that his parents have freely chosen to produce and which they freely agree to protect. They can feel that any amusement he gives (which is often considerable) really comes from him and from them and from nobody else. He has been born without the intervention of any master or lord. He is a creation and a contribution; he is their own creative contribution to creation. He is also a much more beautiful, wonderful, amusing and astonishing thing than any of the stale stories or jingling jazz tunes turned out by the machines. When men no longer feel that he is so, they have lost the appreciation of primary things, and therefore all sense of proportion about the world. People who prefer the mechanical pleasures, to such a miracle, are jaded and enslaved. They are preferring the very dregs of life to the first fountains of life. They are preferring the last, crooked, indirect, borrowed, repeated and exhausted things of our dying Capitalist civilisation, to the reality which is the only rejuvenation of all civilisation. It is they who are hugging the chains of their old slavery; it is the child who is ready for the new world." GKC

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Windows Opened On Both Coasts In Effort To Create Transcontinental Cross-Breeze

WASHINGTON—In a move to combat record-high temperatures and facilitate some much-needed cross-country ventilation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Friday it had ordered the opening of two windows, one in San Francisco, CA and another in Virginia Beach, VA. “As we speak, a cool cross-breeze is sweeping eastward to bring relief throughout our stuffy 3.79 million square miles of interior,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, adding that those with air-conditioning should turn it off now to avoid wasting electricity. “While we’ve heard reports of more flies coming into the central states at night, we feel that’s a price worth paying to prevent people from having to sleep on top of the sheets.” As of press time, the transcontinental breeze had decreased considerably after the window in San Francisco was shut to keep out street noise. (Onion)

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

In the latest Distributionist review Kevin O’Brien outlines the problem with usury and our government debt.

"Somewhere Hilaire Belloc says that an economic system based on usury must always by its nature collapse.

In Economics for Helen Hilaire Belloc outlines in his admirably lucid manner the following principles of usury.

Belloc writes:

1. Usury is both wrong morally and bad for society because it is the claim for an increase of wealth which is not really present at all. It is trying to get something where there is nothing out of which that something can be paid.

2. This action must therefore progressively and increasingly soak up the wealth which men produce into the hands of those who lend money, until at last all the wealth is so soaked up and the process comes to an end.

3. That is what has happened in the case of the modern world, largely through unproductive expenditure on war, which expenditure has been met by borrowing money and promising interest upon it although the money was not producing any further wealth.

4. The modern world has therefore reached a limit in this process and the future of usurious investment is in doubt."